I Know the World's a Broken Bone But Melt Your Headaches Call It Home
by ZexionLover411
Summary: Fae Ramsey and her son, Ryan, are moving into the newly renovated lower flat of 221 Baker St. Ryan doesn't talk to anyone besides Fae but takes an interest in Sherlock's experiments and job. He'd never had a father figure and he knew his mother was giving up everything for him, including her love life.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**A/N:**

**"I know the world's a broken bone but melt your headaches call it home" is from Panic! At The Disco: Northern Downpour.  
**

**I'll think of original cases for this but to start I'm going to use original cases from my much older and less enjoyable story ****_Double Deduction. _****I would take that story down but some people actually like it. This story will be much different from that one; this is not a remake of that story. **

**I know it's bad writing to use something from a previous story but I'm going to change the cases as much as possible since it's not the same OC and there's a second OC(a child) and this is NOT a Moriarty/OC. **

**This story will hopefully be a LOT better than ****_Double Deduction _****since I've grown as a writer since finishing ****_Double Deduction_**** (7/24/2013). **

**Summary: Fae Ramsey and her son, Ryan, are moving into the newly renovated lower flat of 221 Baker St. Ryan doesn't talk to anyone besides Fae but takes an interest in Sherlock's experiments and job. He'd never had a father figure and he knew his mother was giving up everything for him, including her love life. **

* * *

John pulled on his coat as he headed downstairs he stopped midway down the last flight, his jacket half on, and blinked. He finished pulling on his coat and looked down at the young black-haired boy sitting on the bottom step playing a handheld game. John opened his mouth and looked around before closing his mouth and looking back at the child.

"Um… hello?" He asked. The child didn't respond and kept playing his game. John walked down the rest of the stairs before turning to the child. "E-excuse me?" Green eyes flicked up at John briefly. The front door opened and John turned to see a woman, with black hair up in a ponytail, holding a box. She looked John with lighter green eyes. John blinked. "H-Hello?"

"Hi." The woman said blinking. "oh- sorry-" The woman moved to balance the box on her leg and left hand while she extended her right hand. "I'm Fae Ramsey ." The two shook hands. "I'm moving into the flat downstairs." John nodded with an 'oh' face. He remembered that Ms. Hudson had renovations done on the lower flat during the past month.

"John Watson, I live upstairs." He pointed up.

"Nice to meet you." Fae said with a polite smile.

"Is this-" He pointed to the boy briefly. "your-" Fae nodded.

"That's Ryan, my son, yes." John nodded. They stood there in an awkward silence.

"Oh let me help you with that." John said before taking the box.

"Oh thank you." Fae said with a smile. "Would you believe the movers unloaded everything then just left it outside?" Fae said before sighing and shaking her head. John frowned. Ms. Hudson walked into the landing from her flat and smiled when she saw John and Fae.

"Oh good you've met." She said clapping her hands together. "Such a gentleman." She said seeing that John was holding the box. "Where's Sherlock?" She asked.

"Oh, he's doing some experiment." John said nodding upstairs.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Ms. Hudson walked to the stairs and put a hand on the railing. "Sherlock!" She called up. John noticed Fae's curious look.

"My flat mate and I will help you bring everything in." John said to her with a smile. There was a sound of footsteps overhead before the four heard Sherlock coming down the stairs.

"Yes Ms. Hudson? I'm in the middle of something if you could keep it brief." He said stopping on the middle of the stairs. He glanced down at Ryan, who was still playing his game and ignoring the adults around him, before he looked to Fae.

"This is Fae Ramsey, she and her son are moving into the flat downstairs. Be a dear and help her bring in their things." Ms. Hudson said with a smile that silently told Sherlock that he'd better help the girl. Sherlock nodded after a moment. "Good. It shouldn't take long with three people. I'll make some tea for when you're all finished." Ms. Hudson clapped her hands together once more before going back into her own flat. John looked up at Sherlock who walked down the rest of the stairs. Sherlock looked down at Ryan as he passed him before looking to Fae and holding out his hand. They shook and Sherlock opened his mouth.

"No, Sherlock, don't-" John tried to say but was cut off by the consulting detective.

"Young, mid-twenties at least. Slight dark circles under your eyes, suggests you have a hard time sleeping; possible insomnia. No wedding band or any indication there was ever one in the first place. Calluses on the tips of your fingers of your left hand; you play a strings instrument. Phone in your right pocket as well as a watch on your right wrist; right handed. Old sweatshirt, t-shirt, jeans and worn sneakers: either you don't care for fashion or you put your money elsewhere." He glanced down at the 3DS Ryan was playing on. "Fingernails are painted but the paint is severely chipped, not a lot of makeup, showing you _do_ care about your appearance but don't have enough time to focus on it hence the ponytail. Piercings-" He gestured to Fae's ears which had silver studs and rings along the shell of the left ear. "and tattoos-" He gestured to the little black heart on underside of Fae's left wrist and a group of small stars on the right side of her clavicle. "suggesting you had a rebellious phase."

"Are you quite done?" Fae asked tilting her head and raising her eyebrows slightly with a fake smile.

"I could go on." Sherlock said. John frowned, giving Sherlock a look.

"_Sherlock_." He said. "Enough." He turned to Fae. "I'm sorry, he does that to everyone."

"It's alright." Fae said shaking her head. "He didn't say anything new." She said with a shrug. "You could just put the box down anywhere; stack them if you have too." John nodded and headed downstairs. Fae headed outside to get another box. Sherlock looked down at Ryan who glanced up at him, holding his gaze longer than he'd held John's, before once again going back to his game.

* * *

The three finished bringing everything down into Fae's new flat before they went into Ms. Hudson's to have tea. Fae went to get Ryan from his spot on the stairs but he wasn't there. His 3DS sat open, his game paused, where he had been.

"Ryan?" She called. John stepped out.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Did you see Ryan come outside with us before?" Fae asked as she went to the front door.

"No." John said shaking his head. Fae opened the door and glanced out.

"Ryan?" She called again. Sherlock stepped out of Ms. Hudson's flat and frowned slightly. He glanced at the 3DS then looked up the stairs before he headed up them.

"Sherlock?" John asked.

"He's not outside." Sherlock said. Fae closed the front door then she and John followed Sherlock up the stairs and into his flat. He walked into the kitchen and gestured to Ryan who stood there looking at Sherlock's current experiment. Fae walked around Sherlock to go over to Ryan and kneeled in front of him.

"Hey, you gotta tell me when you go somewhere, okay?" Ryan turned to face her with a straight face. "And you can't just come into other people's flats without their permission." Ryan nodded once. Fae stood and turned to Sherlock. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright he didn't touch any-" Sherlock looked over at the experiment on the table before walking over to it. He looked down at a piece of paper with a finished equation on it. Sherlock had been writing it out for John to put into his blog, as an explanation for one of their cases, but he hadn't finished it before Ms. Hudson had called him down.

"If he messed something up I'm really sor-"

"No." Sherlock said before turning his head to look at Ryan. Ryan silently looked back at him.

* * *

**So that's the prologue. I really hope this story turns out better than my last Sherlock fic. I think I can do it guys. ^_^ Thank you for reading, next one out within the week.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**Shoutout to Cherik221B, Nevermorea, (Guest) HarriettWithTea, youcancallmetheoverlord and alexa for being the first reviewers. **

**Cherik221B: Yeah I liked it at the time I was writing it but to be honest in comparison to everything else I've written it's not so hot ^^"**

* * *

"So, dear, tell us about yourself." Mrs. Hudson said with a smile as the five sat at her kitchen table. John had pulled it out away from the wall so everyone could fit. They each had a cup of tea and there was a plate of small cookies in the center.

"_I_ did before. Weren't any of you listening?" Sherlock asked slightly annoyed.

"Sherlock, _she_ hasn't told us anything." John said. Sherlock rolled his eyes and sipped his tea.

"Not much else to tell." Fae said.

"What about your job?" Mrs. Hudson asked.

"Um well… I've got a part-time job waitressing in the morning after I drop Ryan off at school and another job bartending at night on the weekends."

"What about you dear?" Mrs. Hudson looked at Ryan. "What grade are you in?" Ryan looked at her but didn't answer.

"He-He's in sixth grade, he skipped a year." Fae said. "Could've skipped more but he didn't want to." Fae stroked his hair as she paused. "He doesn't really talk to anyone but me." She said. Ryan looked at her with a brief smile. Suddenly Sherlock's phone made a noise. He pulled it out before standing up.

"John, we've got a case." He said. Mrs. Hudson frowned as John stood up.

"A case?" Fae asked. "What exactly is it you do Mr. Holmes?" Sherlock smirked.

"I'm a consulting detective." He said proudly. John rolled his eyes slightly.

"I help." John said.

"Yes, he blogs about it." Sherlock said before turning to leave. Fae smiled slightly.

"Maybe when you two get back you could show me the blog?" She asked. John smiled.

"Or I could just tell you about it." Sherlock said before looking at John. "You leave out most of the details." John rolled his eyes again.

"I'll show you when we get back." He said to Fae with a nod.

"Alright." She said. The two men left and Mrs. Hudson got up.

"Always on a case, those two, I don't know how John does it." She said shaking her head. Fae stood up.

"Well we have to finish unpacking. Thank you so much for the tea." Fae said. Mrs. Hudson smiled at her. Ryan nodded in silent thanks with a small smile.

"You're welcome. If you two get tired just come back up, I'm sure I'll have some more for you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Hudson." Fae said.

* * *

Later that night Fae had fallen asleep in the small couch in front of the fireplace of the flat. Ryan tip-toed in front of her and waved his hand in front of her face. When he got no reaction he smiled before leaving the flat. He slowly went up the steps, learning where not to step to avoid creaks in the future, and headed into Sherlock and John's flat. Ryan glanced in the kitchen to see the experiment from earlier was still there. The two still weren't home but John's laptop was on the table. Ryan climbed into the seat and opened the laptop. After a few attempts Ryan guessed the password and began looking at John's blog.

* * *

"So there are two killers who are trying to make it look like one killer?" John asked as he and Sherlock walked up the stairs to their flat. "And they happened around the same time?"

"_Yes._ The angles of the blow don't match nor do the strength of the blows." Sherlock said. "Plus there's no way one person would be able to kill the man then get to the second crime scene within the allotted time to kill the woman." John stopped in the doorway of the flat as Sherlock went through the kitchen door.

"Ryan?" The boy looked over from his seat at John's laptop. Sherlock glanced over through the kitchen.

"I told you, you should change your password." He said. John rolled his eyes and walked over as he took his coat off.

"What are you doing here?" He asked the boy. "Does your mother know you're here?" Ryan nodded. John gave him a look. Ryan shook his head with a sheepish smile. John sighed. "Come on then." John said nodding to the doorway. Ryan turned in the seat and hopped off. "You're mother's probably worried." Ryan shook his head.

"She's either asleep or at work." Sherlock said. Ryan nodded. John sighed. "He's fine. When she notices he's missing this is the first place she'll look." Sherlock said. "Now, back to the case." John shook his head while Ryan grinned and got back on the chair.

"Well when she comes up here I won't be the one she's angry with." John said.

"None of us will be; she's far too complaisant for that." Sherlock said dismissively. "Now, _case_."

"Alright, alright, the case." John said sitting in his chair. Sherlock sat across from him. John glanced at Ryan who was watching the two. "Are you sure we should be discussing this in front of-" Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"The boy is fine. He can leave if he wants to." Sherlock looked over at Ryan, who shook his head, before giving John a 'go on' look.

"Alright, so two killers." Sherlock nodded. "You said that based on the angle and strength of each blow that a man killed the man and a woman killed the woman."

"Correct, now tell me why. Why would a man kill a man and a woman kill a woman? Wouldn't it be easier for the man to kill the woman? Why pick a man and a woman as the targets in the first place? Why not two women? If this is a pair of killers why wouldn't the man go after the easier target?"

"Because… The man has no reason to kill the woman?"

"Yet the woman has a reason to kill the woman." Sherlock said. "What's the reason?" John sat back in his seat.

"The man has a reason to kill the man and the woman has a reason to kill the woman." John said.

"What did Nicolas Terrance and Isabella Francesca do to upset the killers?" Sherlock asked. The two heard typing and looked over at Ryan. He stopped and looked back at Sherlock. Sherlock stood up and walked over as John turned around to look. "What've you got there?"

"Huh." John said. "The two were engaged." Ryan had pulled up Nicolas Terrance's Facebook page and under relationship it said engaged to: Isabella Francesca. "That doesn't help much…" He looked at Sherlock. "Does it?"

"It actually helps quite a lot." Sherlock said with a small smirk. He patted Ryan's head. "Good job." Ryan smiled up at him. He turned the laptop towards himself and began typing.

"Wait wait wait." John said holding up his hands. "How does knowing they were engaged help?" Sherlock sighed.

"Nicolas and Isabella were engaged," Sherlock said as he typed. He stopped and pointed to the screen. "so were the last four victims: Terry and Grace, Peter and Tina. Don't you find it a bit coincidental that all three women weren't wearing engagement rings? What would cause a woman to remove her engagement ring?"

"If they were cheating." John said before his eyebrows went up. Sherlock nodded. "So you think the women were cheating on their fiancés with the killer?"

"Strong possibility."

"Why would the male killer then kill the fiancé?" John asked.

"Get him out of the way?"

"Well then why would the female killer kill the woman?" Sherlock opened his mouth but was cut off.

"I have a better scenario." Fae said. The three turned to look at her. She looked at Ryan. "Leaving a note would be nice." She said. He gave her an apologetic smile.

"What's your scenario?" Sherlock asked.

"The female killer tempts the man and if he cheats on his fiancée the male killer kills him. The woman is killed out of sympathy by the female killer."

"Where'd you get that idea?" John asked.

"I read a lot." Fae said with a shrug. "Plus you said the rings were missing. If I found out my fiancé was cheating on me I'd take off the ring too."

"How long have you been standing there?" John asked. Fae shrugged.

"Since Ryan pulled up the facebook page." She said. She walked into the room a bit. "So do you two just figure things out or do you actually catch the bad guys."

"We do a bit of both." Sherlock said. Fae nodded. She looked at Ryan who looked up at a nearby clock before he frowned. He hopped off the chair and walked over to her.

"Well it's uh… it's Ryan's bedtime so…"

"Right." John said nodding. Fae nodded and started to lead Ryan out.

"Fae." She stopped and looked at Sherlock. "After you've put Ryan to bed could I have a word?" Fae blinked but nodded.

"Sure." She said before the two went downstairs.

"Sherlock, what are you thinking?" John asked.

"I'm thinking I know the perfect way to catch our killers."

* * *

After tucking Ryan in Fae went back up to Sherlock's flat.

"Sherlock?" She asked. He looked over at her from his chair before he got up and walked up to her. John who was in the kitchen with a cup of tea, leaned out to watch.

"Fae." Sherlock said. She crossed her arms.

"Yes?"

"Will you marry me?" He asked. John spit out his tea. Fae kept a straight face and closed her eyes.

"_What?_" She asked opening them again.

"I need a fiancée." He said seriously.

"To catch the killers."

"Of course, why else?" Sherlock said with his eyebrows coming together in confusion. Fae chuckled.

"Next time just ask for help with the case."

"I don't need help with the case I just need-…"

"Help." Fae said. Sherlock hesitated.

"Will you be my fiancée or not?" He asked.

"_Sherlock_." John said. He'd put his cup of tea down and was currently cleaning up what he'd spit out. Sherlock silently groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Will you help me with the case?" He asked before looking back at John. "Happy?"

"When are we doing this?" Fae asked.

"Preferably within the next two days, it seems to be their pattern."

"I guess I have to find something nice to wear then." Fae said turning around to walk out.

"I'll send John out to get you something." Sherlock said waving his hand dismissively. John had a what-the-heck-when-did-I-agree-to-that look. Fae turned around.

"And how will you know what size to get?" She asked. Sherlock visibly looked her over.

"Turn around."

"What are you doing?" Fae asked with a frown.

"Nothing. See you tomorrow." He said with a forced smile. Fae looked at him for a moment before she turned around and left. Sherlock watched her go before nodding to himself.

"Did you just get her measurements just from looking at her?" John asked.

"It is a skill I posses." Sherlock said before leaving the room. John let out a loud sigh and shook his head.

* * *

**_So, how was that? Yes the case is "Double Trouble" From my other fic but I changed it up a lot and I didn't use that much from the old fic. This case should only be about another chapter. Not going to include "Skeletal closets" too much. _**

**_Next one out sometime before the end of the month. _**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**Glad you guys like this! ^_^ Sorry this took so long. I had been working on my Hobbit you for all the reviews.  
**

* * *

John sighed as he stood in front of Fae's door with two boxes. He knocked on the door and a few moments late Fae opened the door.

"Hey John." She noticed the boxes and frowned. "Sherlock actually sent you out to get me clothes?" John nodded.

"Yeah, sorry about him."

"I have a feeling you'll be saying that a lot." Fae said with a small smile. John chuckled and nodded again.

"Well uh here." He handed the boxes over. "I went with black, that looks good on everyone – most everyone – not saying that you'd look bad in another colour I just didn't-" Fae held up a hand and nodded.

"I know what you mean." She said with a smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I'll pay you back as soon as I can, how much was it?"

"Oh- no you don't have to pay me back; Sherlock gave me the money to buy it."

"Then I'll pay him back."

"You really don't have to." John shook his head.

"You're sure?"

"Yes." He nodded and smiled.

"Alright. I'll do something to pay you back whether you like it or not." She said with a small smile.

"Please don't feel the need to." John said but smiled back at her.

"Did Sherlock tell you a time he needs me to be ready?" Fae asked.

"He said between eight and noon tomorrow."

"Very helpful."

"Sorry-"

"You don't have to apologize for him. It'll be implied from now on." she said. John chuckled. "I'll see you later, John." He nodded.

"Right, see you later." he said before turning away he stopped suddenly and turned back. "Wait." Fae stopped midway closing the door.

"Yes?" John reached into his pocket.

"Sherlock wanted me to give you this. He wants you to memorize the details so you both have the same story." Fae took the paper and read it over.

"Engaged a week ago, met in the rain… I didn't have an umbrella and he offered to share his… Found me a few days later and gifted me with an umbrella and when I opened it, it had his number written on it with a question mark and a smiley face." Fae looked up at John. "I didn't think he was the romantic type."

"Ah- no. I wrote that bit." John said before clearing his throat. Fae smiled.

"Well it's very cute." He smiled back.

"Thank you."

* * *

Fae looked at herself in the long mirror she had hanging on the back of the bathroom door. John had picked out a simple black dress and matching heels. She was never one to wear heels or dresses for that matter, she'd rather be comfortable than look good. Turning in the dress she frowned.

"How'd he know my measurements anyway?" She muttered to herself. She left the bathroom and walked into the small kitchen where Ryan was eating cereal. "How do I look?" She asked him. He put down his spoon to give her two thumbs up along with a smile. Fae smiled back and kissed his head as she walked around him to grab her bag on the counter. Ryan grinned before going back to his breakfast. Fae checked inside her bag and without looking up Ryan pointed to the small table by the couch where Fae's keys and cell phone were. "Thanks baby." Ryan nodded silently as Fae walked to the couch. "Alright, I have no idea how long he'll need me for but if I'm not home when you get home, which I doubt will happen but just in case, my laptop is in my room so you can order dinner if you want to." Ryan nodded. "If not, if I don't get back too late we can go out for ice cream, how's that sound?" Fae asked with a smile. Ryan grinned and nodded. "Okay. You have your bag?" Ryan nodded as he pointed to the bag by the door. "Lunch." Another nod. "Key?" He twirled the extra key on his finger with a smile. Fae chuckled. "Alright, I'll see you later. Kay?" Ryan nodded. "I love you." She said leaning down to kiss his forehead and stroke his head.

"Love you too." He said quietly.

* * *

It was around 9:30am when Sherlock finally knocked on Fae's door. She'd been sitting on her couch reading while she waited. She grabbed her bag and answered the door. Sherlock's eyes scanned her quickly before he nodded to himself. He reached into his pocket and held out an engagement ring.

"Where'd you get that?" Fae asked as she held out her hand palm up.

"I have my ways." Sherlock said as he dropped it in her hand. She slipped it on her left ring finger.

"I know you wouldn't waste money buying one just for a day." Fae said as she closed her door behind her. The two headed outside.

"Of course not. I've had it for years."

"Why?"

"In case I ever needed it."

"Have you had to use it before today?"

"No." Sherlock closed the door behind them and hailed a cab.

"So what exactly are we going to be doing today?" Fae asked as a cab pulled over in front of them.

"Simple. We act like we're engaged." Sherlock said as he got into the cab, quickly telling the cabbie the destination.

"No I mean, where are we going? How do you know the killers are going to see us and take the bait?" Fae asked as she followed Sherlock into the cab. Sherlock sighed.

"I already explained this to John."

"Well I'm not John." She said. He glanced at her.

"I did a little research and narrowed down the area in which all three couples lived closest to in relation to where their bodies were found and their activity on Facebook. It's amazing how many photos of food and drinks women take." He said. Fae rolled her eyes and let out a small sigh as she crossed her arms.

"So we're going to walk around all day and just hope they killers happen to see us." Sherlock remained silent. "What if they don't take the bait?"

"Then we'll have to go out a second day."

"And if not that day then a third? A fourth?" Fae asked. "Mr. Holmes, I do have two jobs I start tomorrow."

"Well it won't work if I switched women between the days." Sherlock said.

"Don't you have any other girl friends you could've asked?"

"I don't have girl friends." He said. Fae sighed.

"Of course you don't." She said shaking her head.

"You could have declined."

"I know." Fae said looking out the window.

"But you're tired of your boring, mundane life, going from your day job to your night job week after week, the same schedule the same routine. Why did you move Ms. Ramsey?" Fae shrugged.

"We had to get away."

"Away from who?" Sherlock asked. Fae looked at him.

"I never said it was a person."

"You didn't need to." The two looked at each other silently. "Where is Ryan's father?"

"I don't think that's any of your business." Fae said turning her head to the window again. "He isn't the reason we had to get away." She said looking down and playing with the hem of the dress. "We just needed a fresh start is all."

"What happened?"

"Ryan… he got into a fight with… _five_ kids at his old school." Sherlock tilted his head slightly to show he was listening. "He never told me but one time a teacher saw a few kids picking on him because he wouldn't talk and she called me. He'd gotten into smaller fights before… according to him the other kids were just jealous he was smarter than them." Sherlock smirked. "The five kids were older than him but Ryan ended up breaking one of the boy's arms. He told me the boy tripped."

"You believe him?"

"Of course I do. I didn't raise a liar." Sherlock nodded. "Anyway the boy's mother threw a fit and we got kicked out of the school." She let out a sigh. "I think it was a good thing though, he didn't like that school." She said shaking her head. "The teachers were extra hard on him because he skipped a grade." She started to smile. "One time he told me how his teacher gave out a test and made his specifically harder and he was still the first one to hand it in." Sherlock smirked.

"Your boy is very gifted." He said. "He finished a very long equation I had been working on." Stuck on really but Sherlock wasn't going to admit that.

"Sorry, he likes things like that. I got him a Rubik's cube once and he solved it in less than ten seconds." Sherlock's eyebrow went up. "I had him do it again so I could time him." Fae laughed. "I have the video on my laptop, I'll show you sometime." Sherlock nodded and glanced out the window. "Have you ever seen the 11 by 11 by 11 cubes?" Sherlock shook his head. "I've been trying to find one for him to give him on Christmas."

"We're here." Sherlock said. He paid the cabbie and the two got out. "Take my arm." He said holding it out for her.

"Couples hold hands, Mr. Holmes."

"Sherlock." He said. "A fiancé doesn't call her fiancé by his last name."

"Of course." Fae said before taking his hand. Sherlock's eyebrows shot up and he looked at her. "Do you want it to be convincing or not?" She asked. "Besides, you're wearing gloves." Sherlock frowned but didn't say anything as they started to walk.

* * *

"So tell me about yourself." Fae asked quietly as the two sat in a small café.

"I'm a consulting detective. The only one in the world. I invented the job."

"You invented it?" Fae asked as she raised her eyebrows. Sherlock smirked smugly. "What's that mean? Consulting detective?"

"It means whenever the police are out of their depth - which is always - they consult me."

"You must be pretty good then."

"The best." He said. Fae scoffed.

"I can't tell if you're being cocky or just confident." He smirked. His eyes flicked to something behind Fae and a moment later he reached across and picked up her left hand. Before Fae could question him he kissed her knuckles lightly. As her hand blocked the view of his mouth he spoke quietly.

"The barista with the blond hair has been looking at us quiet often within the past minute." Sherlock lowered her hand and continued to hold it with a smile.

"He could just be looking."

"Too often in the short amount of time we've been here. The ring caught his attention." Sherlock said as he rubbed a thumb over the back of her hand.

"Are you sure you should jump to conclusions?" Fae asked. He shook his head.

"I never theorize without gathering enough data." Sherlock glanced around the room. "If he comes over here, don't flirt with him."

"Why would I-?" Sherlock stood but leaned down to whisper in Fae's ear. To anyone watching it looked like he was kissing her cheek.

"The theory is the man cheats, remember. The woman is killed out of sympathy." He whispered before standing up straight. "I'll be right back." He said before walking away in the direction of the restrooms. After a few moments the barista walked up to Fae's table.

"Hello." He said with a small smile. Fae looked up at him and smiled politely.

"Hello. Can I help you?" She asked.

"I couldn't help but notice your ring." He pointed to it with a small smile. Fae grinned and nodded as she looked at the ring. She bit her lip. "You must be excited. When's the wedding?"

"This June."

"Have you started all the major planning yet? It's always so hectic in films." He chuckled. Fae shook her head.

"We're actually waiting until next week when we can meet with his parents to discuss everything." The barista nodded. Sherlock walked back over and sat down. The barista smiled at him for a moment before smiling at Fae.

"Well congrats."

"Thank you." Fae said. The barista walked away.

"Well, he asked, did you tell him what I wrote down?" Sherlock asked.

"Mhm, wedding is far away and no planning done."

"Good. A woman tried flirting with me on my way back. The barista is checking his phone and the woman is also checking her phone." Sherlock said without taking his eyes from Fae. "Don't look." He said before she could move. "They just made eye contact."

"So what now?" Fae asked.

"They work fast; the first three couples were killed shortly after they changed their Facebook statuses. So learning it was only two weeks ago we got engaged they've taken the bait." Suddenly Sherlock's cell started ringing. "I gave her my number." He said standing up with a smile. Fae nodded as he answered his phone and walked away. Fae looked down at the ring on her finger and twisted it back and forth with her right index finger and thumb. She never thought she'd wear an engagement ring and this one fit perfectly. She smiled softly and couldn't help but start fantasizing a wedding day. She imagined Ryan as the ring bearer wearing a huge smile. She imagined how beautiful she'd look in her wedding dress and how handsome _he_ would look. She started to frown as she saw a man's face. The dream faded away and Fae felt like there was a rock in her gut. Sherlock sat down and immediately noticed her discomfort. He cleared his throat and she looked up at him.

"So?" she asked.

"This is going to be easier than I thought." He said. "I'll text Lestrade on the way back."

"Who?" Fae asked with a confused frown.

"Detective Inspector of Scotland yard, you'll meet him eventually." Sherlock said dismissively. He stood and held out a hand for Fae. She took it and stood. "We're going to a bar tonight." The two left the café and started walking on the sidewalk. "I'll have John go ahead of us to keep an eye on you. I can only assume the woman will try to get me alone." Fae nodded.

"How late are we gunna be out?"

"Ryan will be fine."

"I know, but I'm his mother, it's my job to worry."

"Do all mothers say that?" Sherlock mused to himself.

"I can imagine _your_ mother worrying about you quiet a lot." Fae said. Sherlock looked at her.

"I don't know what you can possibly mean. I was delightful as a child."

"Yeah, I'll bet."

* * *

**Next chapter is short but it's almost done.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**Dalonega Noquisi: Thanks! I can't wait to write more scenes with Ryan in them. **

**This is very short only cause I wanted it to end where it does. Plus I posted a chapter not that long ago. **

* * *

Fae was constantly checking her phone since she wouldn't be able to hear it ring over the music, TV and crowd of people talking. She flipped it closed and put it in her bag. She could see John sitting at the bar, with a nearly full glass, from where she and Sherlock were seated at a table. It was impossible to talk quietly so when the woman Sherlock had talked to earlier in the café walked into the room Sherlock gave Fae a look before he stood. She nodded to him and ate some of the chips from the basket in front of her. She checked her phone again and when she looked up someone had taken Sherlock's seat. Fae blinked in surprise when she saw the barista from the café.

"Hey." he smiled.

"Hi." she said.

"Didn't think I'd run into you here. You here with your fiancé?"

"Yeah, he left to go to the bathroom I think." Fae laughed. "It's hard to hear in here." He laughed.

"My name's Mike."

"Fae."

"Fae? That's a cool name."

"Thanks." Fae said with a smile.

"I'm not gay." Mike blurted out suddenly. Fae blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Back in the café I know I was asking questions about the wedding and guys don't normally do that kinda thing." He chuckled. "I just wanted to make sure you didn't think I was gay."

"Oh, no, the thought never crossed my mind." Lie. It definitely crossed her mind once but she wasn't the type to judge on appearances or first impressions; it had been a fleeting thought.

"Okay good." Mike chuckled in relief. Fae glanced over at John who was texting on his phone. She wasn't sure if he was texting Sherlock or the date he had been meant to be meeting at the moment. Sherlock had told him to reschedule telling him it was more important for John to watch out for Fae than go on a date. Fae personally didn't understand why she needed to be watched. Sherlock was the one who was meeting the woman, sure Mike was most likely the killer but the pair's M.O. told her she was safe from him. "He's been gone a long time."

"What?"

"Your fiancé," Mike said. "He's been gone a while."

"He's probably just getting another drink."

"You sure?" Mike sat up a bit and scanned the bar before shaking his head. "I don't see him. Wasn't he wearing his coat?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I think he left." Mike said with a frown as he looked at Fae.

"He wouldn't do that." Fae said shaking her head. "Besides he always wears his coat."

"I'm sorry to tell you but he's not in here." Mike said with sympathetic smile.

"He went to the restroom."

"If you say so."

"What does that mean?"

"Well…" he hesitated. "Nothing, nevermind." He shook his head.

"No, tell me."

"Well… not that you're not really attractive but… there are a lot of women here wearing far less."

"He wouldn't do that." Fae said. Mike sat up again and looked as if he saw something before he grimaced.

"Then why is he going out the back door with that blond?" he asked.

"What?" Fae turned to look to the back but saw the back entrance was closed.

"Maybe it wasn't him." Mike said with a frown. "I'm sorry."

"No, look I trust him okay. He probably just stepped outside for some air. It's a bit stuffy in here." Fae said.

"Want me to get you a drink?"

"No I have water." She said picking up the glass and taking a drink. As she put the glass back on the table she noticed a weird aftertaste in her mouth. Her eyes widened slowly and she looked at Mike who was smiling. "What did you…?" The world seemed to warp around her and she gasped for breath. She couldn't see straight and quickly tried to stand. Mike caught her as she stumbled and grabbed her bag from the back of her chair before leading her to the exit.

…

John frowned down at his phone before putting it in his pocket he looked over at Fae's table and saw her gone. She'd been sitting with a man a moment ago, he'd only looked down for a moment. John quickly pulled his phone back out and called Sherlock as he pushed past people to get to the table. Sherlock answered on the last ring, sounding a bit groggy.

"Hullo?"

"Sherlock! Sherlock she's gone!"

"What?"

"Fae! She's gone!"

"Weren't you watching her?"

"Ye- where are you?" John shouted into his phone. Suddenly Sherlock bumped into him, grabbing John's arm to steady himself.

"Right here!" John's eyes were wide and the two put their phones away.

"What happened to you?" John asked.

"Chloroform." Sherlock growled.

"Chloro-?" John gasped out as he looked around for Fae. Sherlock picked up Fae's glass and noticed little bubbles at the top.

"He drugged her." He hissed as he headed to the exit, John followed closely behind.

"What?"

"We got it wrong."

* * *

**Yep. Cliff hanger. Sorry. So I've been planning out this whole story today (when I had free time) and I have an order set up but I have to think of more original cases. I'm going to watch crime shows for the rest of the day (as I write more) to try and piece together my own cases. If anyone has an idea please PM me. I always give credit. **


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**There's a giant paragraph and I'm sorry I didn't know how to break it up and no one new talked. **

**I'm already working on chapter 8.**

**Wow I didn't realize I had so much done already and forgot about updating since I started my new story. Sorry. Just FYI Fae owns an old flip phone not a flat smart phone.**

* * *

Everything felt fuzzy. Her head, her tongue, the air. Fae blinked her eyes a few times to get used to the harsh light coming from a light above her. She was lying on something soft. She racked her brain to remember what happened. Her drink. The barista, Mike, he was at the bar and he drugged her drink.

"You're awake." Fae looked up to see Mike smiling down at her from the side. She tried to open her mouth to speak but her throat was dry and her tongue was numb. She realized there was a rag tied around her mouth. "Shh." Mike put a finger to the rag and Fae moved her head away. He tried to stroke the side of her face and she jerked her head away. "You'll be alright, as long as you do what I say." Fae couldn't help the tears that came to her eyes. All she could think about was if something happened to her what was going to happen to Ryan. "Awe, now don't cry, Fae." Mike purred. "It won't be that bad. I'm not gunna kill you." He said with a laugh. He tossed something up and down in his hand. "Here's what I want you to do…" He flipped open her phone. "I want you, to call your fiancé," He opened her contact list, which had less than five names, and stopped on 'Sherlock'. "And tell him goodbye." Fae's eyes widened. "Break up with him. Break it off. Can you do that?" he asked. Fae nodded. Mike scoffed. "Of course you can." He chuckled and shook his head. "You'll have until your heart stops." Fae stared at him. "I said _I_ wasn't going to kill you. I didn't say anything about anyone else." Tears streamed down Fae's cheeks. "That man doesn't love you; I hated the idea of seeing a lovely girl like you wither away from a broken heart… but apparently you're willing to break up with him just that easily… so you don't love him either." Fae tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "So it seems he'll be the sympathy kill this time. I'm winning three to one then." He said to himself as he pressed the call button. He put the phone down by her ear and started to untie the rag from around her mouth. "Don't bother screaming, soundproof walls." He said as he tossed the rag away. He flipped off the light-switch then left the room. Fae could hear the phone ringing and moved to put her ear against it.

"Fae!" She heard Sherlock's voice.

"Sherlock." Fae whimpered.

"Fae, where are you?" He sounded like he was running. She could hear John in the background.

"I don't know… I…I-"

"Look around you. What do you hear? What do you see? Smell?"

"He said the room is soundproof; I can't hear anything. It's too dark he turned off the light. He's going after you… the woman's gunna kill me."

"Where is she? How did you call?"

"He said he's letting me say goodbye. I don't know where she is."

"Is _he_ there right now?"

"No." She whimpered. "Sherlock, you're not gunna find me in time… tell Ryan-"

"I will find you, Fae."

"Tell Ryan-" Fae started again more firmly.

"When the lights were on did you notice anything?"

"I-I don't know."

"_Think_. Any colours? Shapes that stood out?"

"I- I don't –"

"_Think_, woman, _think_!" He snapped.

"Give me that." She heard John say as he grabbed the phone. "Fae, it's John. You're gunna be fine. Think as hard as you, what do you remember?"

"Um… T-There was a poster on the wall… bowling I think."

"Bowling poster." He told Sherlock. "Fae, I need you to get up and find the door, your eyes should have adjusted to the dark by now enough to help you."

"Yeah but-"

"When she comes in you run out. Got that?"

"My hands are bound by rope and I can't feel my legs yet." The phone was grabbed back by Sherlock.

"Fae, break your phone and use the screen to cut the rope."

"Break the pho- but-"

"You're going to have to trust me."

"I-I can't-"

"If you don't I'll hang up."

"No!"

"Use all your weight if you have to. I know you can do this. You have to be strong for Ryan." Fae squeezed her eyes shut. "Ryan would believe in you. I need you to be strong so you can see him again."

"Okay…"

"I know where you are. John's called Lestrade, we're closer, we will get to you in time. Now break the phone." He said firmly before he hung up. Fae sucked in a gasp and sat up as best she could before moving back and grabbing the phone behind her back. With a grunt and a gasp she snapped the phone and the screen cut into her hands. The feeling was returning to her legs which she found to be unbound. She stood as soon as she was able and threw the bloody rope to the ground. Once she found the door she waited behind it and tried to slow her breathing, muttering to herself.

"You can do this. Don't you _dare_ leave Ryan without a mother." The door knob started to turn and Fae's heart nearly stopped. The door opened and the blond woman felt around for the light switch. Fae quickly moved around her but the woman felt the movement and turned, grabbing her by her hair before she could run down the hallway. Fae screamed as Sherlock and John ran around a corner at the end of the hallway.

"Fae!" The blond woman tried to pull Fae back into the room as John pulled out his gun.

"Let her go!" John shouted. Fae elbowed the woman causing her to let go of her hair which allowed Fae to fall to the ground and John's gun to have a clear shot. "Don't move or I shoot!" The two ran over and John had the woman sit against the wall with his gun trained on her. Sherlock held out his hand for John's gun so that John could help/comfort Fae but John gave him a look before nodding for _him_ to go to Fae. Sherlock crouched beside Fae as she sat on the floor hugging herself.

"Fae." He said softly. She looked at him.

"Thank you." She said her voice coming out in a whisper.

"I told you I'd find you." She nodded. "You're bleeding." He said just as Lestrade and a few other officers rounded the corner.

"Sherlock!"

"Arrest the blond." Sherlock said as he helped Fae stand.

"What about Mike?" she asked.

"Given that he doesn't know I have a higher tolerance to Chloroform than most people he'll have assumed I was still at the bar. When he arrives he'll find the police waiting for him."

"There's an ambulance outside." Lestrade told him as an officer cuffed the blond. Sherlock felt Fae immediately tense.

"I-I don't need an ambulance." Fae said shaking her head.

"Let me guess," Sherlock said. "There's a blanket for her? She's not in shock; she's just a bit shaken up."

"Sherlock, her hands are all cut up." Lestrade said with a frown pointing to them.

"I can easily take care of that at home."

"I-I'm fine, really." Fae said. "I don't need an ambulance." She went to take a step forward and her legs gave out. Sherlock caught her before scooping her up in his arms.

"Sherlock." Lestrade said.

"If you'll excuse us." Sherlock said. "Come along, John." Sherlock said as he started walking down the hall.

"Sherlock!" Lestrade called after him.

"Thank you." Fae whispered again. Sherlock simply looked down at her and nodded.

**...**

Sherlock carried Fae outside the bowling alley and over to the ambulance. He put her down and jumped into the back. She watched him pick out a few things and put them in his pockets. One of the EMTs started yelling at him but Sherlock ignored him as he jumped out and picked up Fae again before walking to the sidewalk to the cab John was waiting by. John had the remains of Fae's phone and her bag in his hands.

* * *

When the trio arrived at Baker St. Fae asked John to check on Ryan while Sherlock cleaned up her hands. Sherlock carried her into the bathroom and sat her on the edge of the tub before taking the supplies out of his pockets. John came upstairs after a few minutes.

"He's asleep. He must have ordered pizza, there's a box on the counter."

"Thank you." Fae said before hissing in pain as Sherlock poured some disinfectant on her hands.

"We'll have to get you a new phone." John said after a moment of silence. Fae shook her head.

"No I can get a new one myself." she said.

"You don't have the money for it." Sherlock said. Fae looked away.

"_Sherlock_." John hissed.

"It's fine." Fae said. Sherlock started wrapping Fae's hands. "Thanks." Sherlock glanced up from her hands to meet her eyes for a brief moment. Fae started to smile. "It was lovely being your fiancé for the last few hours." A small smirk tugged at Sherlock's lips.

* * *

**Sorry it took forever to update. **


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**It's been a while so a reminder lines in Italics is Sherlock/John 'reading' Ryan's expressions.**

**Nixie the Bloody Pixie: Fae didn't talk in the entire large paragraph. That's why I couldn't separate it. **

* * *

John sat down in his chair with a fresh cup of tea and turned on the television. The news was on and the screen showed three pictures, each of a child. There were two girls and one boy.

"Another child has been reported missing. Within the past two weeks, three children have been abducted from a playground at the corner of Broadley St and Penfold St including Max Farrel, Katie Huberd and more recently Mandy Gardener. Children normally go to the playground after school to wait for their parents to pick them up after work. We spoke to a woman who said there's normally other parents there with younger children and they watch the children waiting for their parents. Police have questioned neighbors and the other children but so far have no leads. Parents are advised to not leave children unattended-" The news reporter went on about advice for parents.

"They look to be around Ryan's age." John said. Sherlock glanced over from where he was working with his chemistry equipment in the kitchen. "Doesn't he walk home?"

"He walks home when Fae doesn't give him money for a cab. Seeing as how she hasn't gotten paid this week I doubt he'll be taking a cab this afternoon. She most likely saw this same report this morning and walked with him to school and will text one of us, most likely you, to pick him up later."

"She wouldn't have seen the news because they don't have a telly." John said shaking his head.

"Ryan will be fine. That playground is nowhere near the path he takes." Sherlock said.

"How do you know which path he takes?"

"He picks the quickest and most efficient route so that he can get home earlier to start dinner." Sherlock said. "If you tell Fae she'll only worry."

"Alright, then I won't tell her." John said before drinking from his cup. "Haven't had a case in a while." Sherlock glanced up at John.

"Are you suggesting I look into these abductions?"

"It's something for you do to." John said. Sherlock smirked.

"I'm just waiting for the call."

"What call?" John asked with a frown. Suddenly Sherlock's phone rang.

"Answer that, would you." Sherlock said. John sighed but got up and walked into the kitchen to answer the phone right beside the man.

"Hello?" Sherlock got up and grabbed his coat and scarf as John listened to Lestrade. "Yep, we're on our way, he's halfway out the door." John said before hanging up and grabbing his own coat to chase after Sherlock who was already waiting downstairs. "I still feel like I should tell her." John said as he looked at Fae's door.

"If you call her now it will only distract her the rest of the day." Sherlock said.

"You care?" John asked turning back to look at him with a small frown.

"I'd rather not have her ask one of us to get him because she's paranoid." Sherlock said as he opened the door to leave. John sighed and went after him.

…

John didn't hear Sherlock tell the cabbie where to go but he assumed Scotland Yard, so when the cabbie took the wrong turn John turned to Sherlock with a small frown.

"Where are we going?" John asked. "We're not going to Scotland Yard?"

"Of course not. I need to pick something up first."

* * *

"We'll be right back, wait here." Sherlock told the cabbie who nodded.

"Sherlock, what are we doing at Ryan's school?" John asked as they started walking towards Gateway Primary School. It was only a 17 minute walk and the cab had taken them there within 10 minutes.

"I would think that would be obvious." Sherlock said with a disappointed frown at John.

"Sherlock, we can't pull Ryan out of school."

"Of course we can."

"_No_, we cannot; they still have a few hours left and we're not his parents."

"You're not." Sherlock said.

"You can't be serious." John breathed. Sherlock didn't say anything as they approached the front desk.

"Hello, can I help you?" The woman behind the counter asked. John shook his head as Sherlock put on a smile.

"Yes, hello, I would've called but I lost the number. I need to pick up my son early, I'm sorry it's such short notice." Sherlock said with a sheepish smile.

"Your son? What's his name?" The woman asked.

"Ryan Ramsey." He said. The woman nodded and typed on her computer. She frowned after a moment.

"We don't have a father listed for Ryan." She said. Sherlock gave the woman a sheepish smile.

"Yes, Fae and I aren't living together anymore. It's no surprise she wouldn't list me as the father. We had bit of a... fight if you want to call it, the day she enrolled him. I'm sure she'll fix it once… everything works itself out." He gave the woman a hopeful smile and she looked sympathetic. "You can call her if you'd like, but she's at work and I just didn't want to bother her to call first. I'm sorry."

"No no, I'll call Ryan down. You just need to sign him out."

"Of course. Thank you." Sherlock smiled. John resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Sherlock turned back to him with a smirk.

…

When Ryan came around the corner he looked suspicious until he saw Sherlock and John and he smiled. Then a moment later his smile was gone and replaced with a confused frown. Sherlock thanked the woman at the desk and the three left. Ryan looked up at Sherlock.

_Is my mum alright?_

"Your mother is fine." Sherlock said without looking at him. Ryan looked at John who shrugged.

"Don't look at me, I don't know." John said as Sherlock opened the cap door.

"We're working on a case, John." Sherlock said giving him another disappointed look. Ryan's eyebrows went up and he looked at Sherlock with a smile. Sherlock smirked back.

* * *

Ryan sighed as he waited in the cab with John. Sherlock had gone into Scotland Yard about five minute prior.

"He better not be planning what I think he's planning." John muttered under his breath. Ryan looked at him. John looked back but the two didn't say a word. John looked out the window to see Sherlock walking towards them with a laptop under his arm. "Finally." He muttered. Sherlock got in and told the cabbie the park location. "What's that for?" John asked pointing to the laptop. Sherlock ignore him.

"Ryan." Sherlock said. "Put this in your pocket. Don't lose it." He handed him a small black square. Ryan raised an eyebrow as he looked at it then looked to Sherlock but put it in his pocket.

"Sherlock, it that a tracker? Why are you giving him a tracker?" John asked.

"Seriously, John, are you alright? You're very slow today." Sherlock said with a frown. John scoffed.

"Sherlock, you can't use Ryan for a case." John said. Sherlock looked at Ryan.

"Do you want to go back to school?" Sherlock asked. Ryan shook his head. "Do you want to help on the case?" Ryan nodded with a grin. "See?" Sherlock said looking at John who sighed. Sherlock opened the laptop and started typing.

"Fae's going to have a heart attack." John muttered.

"Nonsense, we'll be back before she gets home." Sherlock said.

"You don't think the school's going to call her?"

"Why would they call her? That woman was convinced I was Ryan's father, she has no reason to call."

"Well they would probably call her to let her know where he was in case she was to go get him." John said. Sherlock and Ryan looked at each other.

"Don't tell your mother you helped with a case." Sherlock said. Ryan tilted his head.

_What do you want me to tell her?_

"I think you're clever enough to think of something on your own." Sherlock said. It only took a moment before Ryan nodded. Sherlock smirked.

"Shouldn't we know what the excuse is in case she asks _us_?" John asked finally just going with it. Sherlock sighed and brought up a word document before handing the laptop to Ryan. Ryan's little fingers seemed to work like lightning across the keys before he turned the screen to John.

_John saw the news report this morning and was worried about me so he convinced Sherlock to pretend to be my dad to take me home early before you started working on the case. (I heard teachers talking about the news this morning)_

"Perfect." Sherlock patted Ryan on the head before taking the laptop back. John nodded.

"Alright. That's definitely not far from the truth." John said. Ryan frowned in confusion.

"I told you he doesn't walk by that park." Sherlock said as Ryan nodded. John sighed once again and shook his head.

* * *

The cabbie pulled over away from the park and Sherlock, John and Ryan got out. There were a lot less kids than there would normally be, the result of protective parents.

"John, give me your phone." Sherlock said.

"Should I ask?" John asked as he held out his phone. Sherlock didn't answer and took the phone. He opened up a text to his own phone and typed in a message, without hitting send, before handing it to Ryan. Ryan nodded and put it in his pocket. "I don't feel right about this."

"He's not bait." Sherlock said rolling his eyes. "He's smart enough to not get abducted. The closer he is the more he'll see. And two men standing around watching children? _Think_ John." John shook his head.

"Fine." John said.

"We'll wait here." Sherlock told Ryan. "Go play." He said with a smirk. Ryan smirked back and started running to the play ground.

…

Ryan wasn't really one for playing on things like this but he was on a mission. He sat on the top of the monkey bars and looked around as he kicked his legs back and forth. Every so often a car or parent would come up and a child or two would run up to them and leave with them. Ryan looked as a car pulled up and a man got out. He smiled when he saw his son and waved him over. The little boy shouted with glee and jumped into his father's arms. Ryan's knuckles turned white as he gripped the chipping blue metal.

"Billy!" Ryan looked but saw there wasn't a car stopped anywhere or a mother on the sidewalk. He looked around to the playground to see a boy had stopped chasing his friend and was looking around. Ryan looked around the surrounding house but didn't see anyone standing in the doorway of any house. "Billy!" Came the woman's voice again. Ryan glanced at the windows of the houses; nothing. Suddenly there was a soft thud below Ryan and he looked down to see the boy who had stopped had tripped and fallen while running past. Ryan climbed down and helped the boy up. The boy was much younger than Ryan and was sniffling quietly. He had gotten a small scrape on his knee. Ryan looked down to see the boy's shoes were untied. The boy blinked in surprise as Ryan tied both his shoes for him.

"Thank you." The boy said quietly before standing up and running off towards the sound of the woman calling. Ryan watched him and scanned the direction. There was no one. Ryan looked back towards where Sherlock and John were and saw the two weren't watching him; they probably couldn't see him though they had seen him get down from the monkey bars. Ryan ran off in the direction the boy had gone and saw him standing by a black van looking around. He turned towards the van like somebody in it had gotten his attention. The door to the car opened and the boy was pulled in with a surprised cry. Ryan's eyes widened. He fished John's phone out of his pocket and quickly added to the text and hit send. As he put it in his pocket he looked up to see the van still there. He frowned and his eyes widened and held his breath as a cloth was pushed to his mouth and an arm went around him. The tracker fell from jacket pocket as he struggled to get out of his captor's grip.

"You have to breathe sometime kid." The man growled as he dragged him to the van. The man pressed on Ryan's stomach making him cough and breathe. The last thing he saw before he was thrown in the van was the unconscious boy.

…

The moment John and Sherlock had gotten the text from Ryan they started running towards where the laptop showed the tracker.

"Sherlock!" John picked up the tracker. Sherlock looked up from the laptop and stared at it. "I'm not the one who's going to explain this to Fae."


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**Sorry I haven't updated in a very long time. I'm gunna work on this more. If anyone like the new game Until Dawn I have a fic up "Make a Move"**

* * *

"Where's Ryan?"

"Hello to you too Ms Ramsey." Sherlock said into his phone as he glanced at John in the cab. John shook his head giving Sherlock a 'this is all you; don't expect any help from me here' look.

"Sherlock, I'm not going to ask again. Where is my son?" Fae all but growled.

"Meet us at Scotland Yard." Sherlock said.

"Scotland yar-?" Sherlock hung up before she couldn't finish. John stared at him.

"Did you just hang up on her?" John asked. Sherlock didn't respond. "Do you realize how worried she's going to be?"

"We'll use the GPS on your phone." Sherlock said.

"_Sherlock_."

"It won't give an exact location but we can work with it."

"I wouldn't be surprised it she punches you for this."

"She's too much of a pacifist."

"You feel bad at all?" John asked.

"We're going to solve the case much faster now." Sherlock said.

"You're unbelievable." John hissed before looking out the window.

* * *

"You did _what_?" Lestrade asked with his eyebrows raised. "One, I never gave you permission for that tracking device and two, how could you get _a kid_ involved?" Sherlock rolled his eyes and didn't answer as he plugged in the laptop and started to find John's phone. "Where are this kid's parents?"

"His mother's on her way." Sherlock said as he typed.

"I hope she hits you." Sally Donovan said.

"Not likely." Sherlock said. "There." he pointed to the computer screen.

"Sherlock!" Fae shouted as she stormed over.

"Here she is now." John said. "I'd say good luck but I don't think you deserve it." Sherlock glanced at him before facing Fae.

"Where is he? The school said his _father_ pulled him out of class." Fae said. Lestrade's eyes widened and he and Sally stared at Sherlock in shock.

"Well, we look alike, it made it easier." Sherlock said and Lestrade and Sally relaxed. Lestrade frowned again as he recognized Fae from a few weeks before.

"Where is he?" Fae asked.

"There." Sherlock pointed to the laptop screen which showed a large red circle over an area near the park.

"Why is he there? Where _is_ there?" Fae asked.

"He used him as bait to catch a kidnapper." Lestrade said. Fae's eyes widened.

"What?!" she squeaked.

"Not as bait!" Sherlock snapped glaring at Lestrade. "He was on watch, and went after the kid who was meant to be kidnapped. They took him as well for being a witness."

"Sherlock you don't just take someone's kid and use him on a case!" Fae shouted her voice cracking. John put a hand on her shoulder but she shook him off. "Find him."

"I plan to." Sherlock said. "Worrying is pointless."

"It is not pointless." Fae said glaring at him. "It shows I care-"

"It shows you fear being called a horrible mother by those around you because you're a single mother working two jobs and your son has to walk to school when there are kidnappers on the loose." Fae's cheeks flushed in embarrassment and John glared at Sherlock.

"Shut up and find my son." Fae growled.

"Do you wish to come along?" Sherlock asked as he closed the laptop. Fae gave him a hard look.

…

"I can't believe the school let you take him." Fae muttered as she looked out the window of the cab sitting next to John.

"It wasn't that difficult." Sherlock said.

"You look _nothing_ like his father." Fae muttered.

"Who would be?" Sherlock asked.

"Drop it, Sherlock." John said shooting him a glare.

"He wanted to help." Sherlock said.

"And if he wanted to blow something up would you let him do that too?" Fae asked.

"If it was for an experiment-" Sherlock started.

"Sherlock." John said.

"Not good?" Sherlock asked.

"You are _very_ far from good right now." Fae said.

"You're going to have to wait in the car." Sherlock said.

"You better not be talking about me." Fae said leaning forward to glare at him.

"Of course not." Sherlock said. John blinked.

"_I _have to wait in the car?" John asked.

"You'll watch us and if we look like we need help you tell Lestrade to come in after us." Sherlock said. John sighed. The cab pulled over to the side of the road and Sherlock and Fae got out. "I'll do that talking." Sherlock said.

"Do that while you can cause I'm seriously tempted to break your jaw." Fae hissed. Sherlock scoffed. Fae looked up at him. "What's so funny?"

"Your empty threat." Fae glared at the ground and didn't respond. The two approached the door and Sherlock knocked. "Not a word."

"Okay, okay." Fae muttered. The door opened and a woman peeked out.

"Yes? Can I help you?" She asked as she opened it more.

"Mrs. Gibson?" Sherlock asked. The woman nodded. "We're with the police; we need to ask you a few questions about the kids that have been disappearing from the park down the road." Her grip on the door tightened and before she could respond he spoke again. "Do you have any children of your own?" He looked past her. "Is that your son?"

"W-what?" She looked back and saw a little boy standing by a wall, peeking around it. Fae smiled at him and he smiled back weakly.

"Come here sweetie. What's your name?" Fae asked. Sherlock looked at her with a small frown. The boy stayed quiet.

"G-Go on honey." Mrs. Gibson said. He looked up at her.

"Mommy told me not to tell my name to strangers." The boy said.

"We're with the police, you can tell us." Fae said. He looked to Sherlock and Fae.

"I wasn't talking about you." He said quietly. A look of panic washed over Ms. Gibson's face.

"Sweetie, why do you go play?" She said pushing him out, down the hall, before walking back to the door with a nervous smile.

"Mrs. Gibson, you don't have children. That little boy is not your son, neither is Katie, Mandy, or Max." Sherlock said. Suddenly she tried to close the door on them but Sherlock stopped it with his foot and pushed against it. Mrs. Gibson started to run away. Fae quickly turned and waved to John before following inside after Sherlock. While running through the house she noticed a room slightly cracked open. As she ran past she caught a glimpse inside and saw a bright room filled with toys and stuffed animals. Fae found Sherlock standing a few feet from Mrs. Gibson who was holding a knife to the boy's throat, holding him by the back of his throat.

"Stay back!" Mrs. Gibson yelled. Fae noticed a letter addressed to a Beverly on the table.

"Beverly, put the knife down, you don't want to hurt that boy." Fae said. Beverly looked a bit taken back that Fae knew her name but shook it off.

"How do you know?" she yelled.

"Because if you wanted to hurt these kids you wouldn't have a play room filled to the brim with toys." Fae said. "I know why you're doing this, why you took them. You want a child." The woman started to cry. "Beverly, these children have families of their own. Mothers and fathers who are worried about their children. One of those boys in there is _my son_."

"It's not fair!" Beverly sobbed.

"What right do you have to take these children away from their families?" Fae noticed that the boy had started crying as well. "Look at the boy." Beverly looked down as the boy looked up at her.

"I wanna go home, I want my mommy!" He cried. Suddenly Beverly threw the knife into the sink and pushed the boy to Fae before collapsing to her knees. The boy hugged Fae's legs and cried. Suddenly they heard the police running to the house.

"We're in here!" Fae shouted. Two police men came in and started to arrest Beverly. Fae looked down at the boy and stroked his head. "Sweetie, where are the others?" He pointed down the hall. "Come on, show me." She said. He took her hand and led her to the playroom. She pushed open the door and saw the other kids were huddled in the corner and Ryan was sitting with them, attempting to comfort them silently. Ryan looked up and smiled when he saw his mother. Fae let out a sigh of relief. "Come on, we're taking you all back to your mums and dads." Fae said. Ryan helped the kids stand and Fae smiled.

…

When they left the house they saw a man in the back of one of the squad cars. It was Beverly's husband, the one who'd been taking the kids for her. He came home as the cops arrived and tried to run resulting in his black eye.

* * *

They took the kids back to Scotland Yard and informed the parents. Ryan sat on a bench and watched as mothers and fathers hugged their children, crying. He looked through the window into another room to see Fae yelling at Sherlock and John. Ryan smiled slightly. He put his hands in his pockets and blinked when he pulled out John's phone. He hopped off the bench and went into the room the three were in.

"Again we're really sorry." John said.

"I'm not." Sherlock said.

"_Sherlock_." John hissed.

"It got the case solved."Sherlock said. Fae let out an exhausted breath then noticed Ryan.

"Hey sweetie." She put a hand on his head. He smiled at her before holding out John's phone to him.

"Oh, thank you." John said taking it and putting it in his pocket.

"How 'bout we get you some ice cream on the way home?" Fae asked. Ryan grinned and nodded. Fae looked at John and Sherlock. "Look… when you need Ryan's help for anything please ask me or at least tell me so I won't worry."

"We didn't think he was going to get taken. That wasn't the plan. He was supposed to wait for us." John said looking at Ryan who smiled and shrugged. Fae put her hand on his back and he smiled at her.

"Oh yeah," Fae looked at Sherlock. "Because of you the school wants me to give them his father's information."

"List me as an emergency contact." Sherlock said with a shrug.

"I can't do that. Apparently I'm not supposed to withhold information from the school. They want the father's information."

"Then list me." Sherlock said. John looked at his friend with an eyebrow raised.

"They'd require us both to come to teacher conferences." Fae said. Sherlock sighed.

"Fine, if I've nothing better to do." Sherlock said. John looked concerned.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'm perfectly fine. For the emotional distress I've caused her… this is the least I could do. Why? Not good?"

"No no, it's good." John said nodding. Sherlock nodded once.

"Very well. See you at home." He said.

"I don't have anywhere else to be." John said confused.

"I'm riding alone." Sherlock said as he left the room.

"I guess I'm riding with you." John said looking at Fae and Ryan.

"Is he alright?" Fae asked.

"He rides alone when he needs to think." John said with a shrug.


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**If anyone likes Rami Malek and the show Mr. Robot I have a fic "Missing Data." And if you like the game Until Dawn I have a fic "Make a Move". **

* * *

John stood by the window holding a cup of tea which he sipped idly as he watched people walk by below. Sherlock was typing away on John's laptop seeing as his own was in his room – much too far for the man to walk. A flash of red caught John's eyes and he saw a group of boys - one of which was wearing the bright red jacket - chasing a younger boy.

"Isn't that Ryan?" John asked with a deep frown.

"He does live here." Sherlock said not looking up from the screen.

"Oh dear." John breathed and quickly set his cup down before rushing from the room. Sherlock ceased typing and glanced up. He stood and went to the window. Ryan was running from four boys who looked to be at least two years older than him. Sherlock noticed that he had on headphones but the plug was swinging as he ran. It was probably a way to make sure kids didn't try to talk to him.

John ran outside just as Ryan was nearing.

"Ryan!" He called out, raising his hand in the process. Ryan stopped running and John jogged over. The older boys stopped running and were talking to themselves before they ran back in the direction they'd come. Ryan glanced back at them and watched them for a moment. John put a hand on the top of Ryan's back to lead him inside. "How was school?" He asked. Ryan turned to look up at him giving him a single gaze.

_You know how it went. Don't pretend you didn't see them, that's why you're out here._

"You okay?" John asked. Ryan nodded. "Does your mum know about," he looked back towards where the boys had run off. "that?" Ryan shook his head and gave John a pleading look.

_Please, don't tell her._

John nodded.

"I know you don't want her to worry but you can talk to me." Ryan gave him a look. "Type." John corrected. "You can borrow my laptop when you need to talk." Ryan nodded.

* * *

Sherlock was rushing around the room, muttering to himself and looking underneath various objects.

"Where are they?" He hissed to himself. On the couch Ryan was playing on his 3DS like he'd come to do almost every day he came home from school for the past week or so. Sherlock turned to him. "Do you know where they are?" Ryan shook his head without looking up from his game. Sherlock came over and crouched. "If you tell me I'll...let you 'help'" he made finger quotes. "With my experiment." Ryan looked up from his game and Sherlock smirked. Ryan paused his game, got up, and left the room. Sherlock frowned as Ryan went down stairs and followed him down into Fae's flat. Sherlock couldn't help but examine the room as Ryan went into Fae's bedroom and came back with the pack of cigarettes. "John asked her to hide them." Sherlock said shaking his head while Ryan nodded. Sherlock patted Ryan on the head as he took them before the two headed upstairs and into the kitchen. Ryan climbed up into a chair and kneeled in it as he looked at the chemistry set Sherlock had laid out on the table. There was a pad and pen next to it all with chemistry equations. Sherlock started to work while Ryan picked up the pen. The two worked in silence the pack of cigarettes forgotten on the counter.

* * *

"Don't tell your mother." Sherlock said as he handed a grinning Ryan, who had on an oversized apron and goggles, a dropper filled with a semi- transparent pink liquid. Ryan put a drop in a Petri-dish with another liquid that started to sizzle.

…

"Don't tell your mother." Sherlock said as he and Ryan walked into the coroner's office of St. Barts. Molly looked surprised at the boy with Sherlock as they passed by.

"Sherlock?" She asked. Ryan looked at her and blinked silently. Sherlock didn't introduce them and of course Ryan didn't say a word as they went into another room where a corpse lay on a table. Sherlock pulled back the sheet it was covered by and Molly just stared as Sherlock and Ryan began to examine the body.

…

"Don't tell your mother." Sherlock said as he sat down beside Ryan and opened a case file on the coffee table. He spread out multiple gory crime scene photos and Ryan scooted forward.

* * *

John got out of a cab and approached Lestrade.

"Is he here yet?" John asked. Sherlock had texted him about a case and said he'd meet him there. Lestrade nodded towards another cab that pulled up. John turned to see Sherlock getting out along with Ryan.

"The hell?" Lestrade breathed. The two started walking over and Sherlock looked down at Ryan.

"Don't tell your mother." The two heard him say.

"Sherlock, what's this?" Lestrade asked. "You can't bring _a kid_ to a _crime scene!_"

"It's for educational purposes." Sherlock said as he lifted the crime scene tape before ducking under it. Ryan did the same.

"Educa- Sherlock!" Lestrade called after him.

"Sherlock!" John jogged after them. "What are you thinking? Does Fae know he's here?"

"She's at her day job." Sherlock said.

"So, no. Sherlock, you can't just bring someone's kid to a crime scene, especially Fae's. He's too young-"

"He's already seen the photos from the last case I fail to see how this is any different." Sherlock said. John's jaw fell open.

"You- Sher- you can't do that. What will Fae say about this?"

"Obviously we're not going to tell her." Sherlock said as he rolled his eyes.

"Sherlock you-!"

"Hello freak." Sherlock didn't even look at her as he walked by. Sally frowned when she noticed Ryan. Anderson walked up and had a similar expression.

"There's no way that's his kid." He said. Sally shook her head.

"No one would be dumb enough to be in a room long enough with him let alone a bed." Sally scoffed.

"He's not my child." Sherlock said.

"Our neighbor's." John clarified.

"Someone trusts _you _enough with their child?" Anderson laughed. "They must be a bloody idiot."

"She's actually-" John started to say.

"She?" Sally asked. "I feel bad for her." She said with a slight laugh, crossing her arms.

"Surprisingly she doesn't mind him that much." John said. Sherlock glanced at John with a frown. "Don't give me that look." Sherlock rolled his eyes and walked up to the body that was covered in a white sheet lying on the grass.

"Where's the note?" Sherlock asked. Anderson held up an evidence bag. Sherlock snatched it and handed it to Ryan along with a small notebook and a pen.

"What are you doing?" Anderson asked.

"Anderson, do keep your whining to a minimum, I fear my ears will bleed." Sherlock said and smirked when he saw Ryan smiling. After a moment of the boy writing on the notebook he handed the bag back to Anderson and the notebook to Sherlock. "Caesar Cipher." Sherlock said nodding. He smirked at Ryan and patted him on the head causing the boy to grin.

_Loss of a love_

_Loss of a life_

_But who held the knife?_

"Where are the other notes?"

"Two others are in evidence." Lestrade said. "Are you telling me he just figured that one out?" He asked pointing to Ryan who was smirking.

"Of course." Sherlock said. "We'll take a look at them." He turned to the body on the ground.

"Three notes." John said. "The other two didn't have a victim, why now?" John asked.

"No one killed this man." Sherlock said.

"Suicide?" John asked. Sherlock nodded.

"Guilt."

"David Young." Lestrade said. "His brother died in prison a few days ago."

"What was he convicted of?"

"The rape of his niece." Lestrade said with disgust. "She ended up killing herself too." John let out a sigh.

"The notes?"

"Yeah, yeah, come on you robot." Lestrade said shaking his head.

* * *

Ryan looked up at Sherlock as Lestrade handed him the two other notes. Sherlock looked down at Ryan who grinned hopefully. Sherlock nodded and put the notes on the table with a notebook.

"Doesn't the kid talk?" Sally asked. No one answered. "He alright in the head?" Sherlock turned to glare at her.

"He's perfectly fine. He's selectively mute due to a past experience." Sherlock said. Ryan stopped writing and looked at him for a moment. Lestrade gave Sally a disapproving look. Sherlock looked at Ryan who handed him one of the notebook papers.

_One little birdie_

_Drank the dirty water_

_In charge of the flock_

_Soon to crash and burn_

Sherlock nodded and soon Ryan was handing him the last note.

_Blood spilled blood_

_Bonded is blamed_

"Based on the notes Mr. Young's brother was wrongfully convicted and considering Mr. Young took his own life I think it's safe to assume Mr. Young was the one to commit the crime." Everyone in the room looked disgusted. "Next note: someone drank and caused an accident which killed everyone but them."

"Where did you say you found that note?" John asked.

"A college student found it, kept getting an email every day for a week then every hour one day then the next day it was a constant repeat. She freaked out and came to us." Sally said.

"What's the third note?" Lestrade asked.

"Do you have any cases involving a dead spouse and the in-law and the other spouse convicted of murder?" Sherlock asked.

"Uh… yeah." Lestrade said. "Guy said he found his wife dead and the sister-in-law said the two had been fighting-"

"The sister did it."

"Great so someone's giving out notes to help the police fix chases?" John asked.

"Whoever's doing this isn't helping us." Sally said. "We had no idea how to read the messages." Sherlock opened his mouth to answer when he noticed Ryan writing quickly. He finished and handed the note to Lestrade. The note had the alphabet from D to Z with ABC at the end.

"Is this the code?" He asked Ryan who nodded.

"Caesar Cipher." Sherlock said. "It rotates alphabet by a number of positions. In this case it's three."

"Now you can do it yourselves." John said.

"Well this turned out to be boring." Sherlock said. He looked down at Ryan. "Better get you back to your mother." Ryan nodded.

* * *

The three entered Baker St and the two men started to go upstairs when John noticed Ryan staring at his door.

"What's wrong?" John looked at the door and saw a post-it. Sherlock stopped and walked up to the door. He pulled the post it off and looked at Ryan.

WKH VLOHQFH RI WKH FKLOG

WKH DUULYDO RI WKH IDWKHU

WKH FUBLQJ RI WKH PRWKHU

"Ryan?" John asked. "Sherlock what does it say?"

"I think we'd better wait for your mother to get home." Sherlock said. Ryan nodded.

* * *

Fae came home and was ready to fall asleep as soon as she hit the couch but when she went to open her door she saw a note.

_We need to talk – SH_

"Oh what has he done now?" She muttered as she walked up the stairs. When she walked into the room saw Ryan sitting on their couch and Sherlock and John in their chairs. "I saw your note. What's up?"

"We found this note on your door when we got home." Sherlock said holding it up. Fae looked at it and frowned.

"The heck does that mean?"

"Ryan decoded it." John said and held out piece of paper. Fae frowned and took it. Her eyes widened as she read it and her hand flew to her mouth. She shook her head.

_The silence of the child_

_The arrival of the father_

_The crying of the mother_

"He found us?" She whispered.

"Who?" Sherlock asked, leaning forward.

"Who do you think?" Fae snapped. She looked at Ryan and bit her lip. He was frowning. Sherlock looked at him and read his expression.

_I don't want to move again._

"Fae." Sherlock said. She looked at him. "Who is his father?"

"A cruel man." She scoffed. Sherlock looked at Ryan to see him looking down at his feet.

"You're running from him, he didn't leave you." Sherlock said.

"Sherlock." John warned.

"A little bit of both. He told me to go 11 years ago then tried to get me back three years later and again…"

"Last month." Sherlock said. "That's why you moved." Fae nodded.

"Why the eight year gap?" John asked.

"I'd like to believe he gave up for a few years. I don't want to think about him looking for us this whole time."

"He won't find you." Sherlock said.

"We'll take care of it if he shows up." John added.

"Thank you." Sherlock looked towards Ryan again to see the boy sigh and look towards the window.

* * *

**Let me know what you think. ^_^**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**Bugrainbowz: Don't worry, I never said I was going to. **

**I know this is extremely short sorry. **

* * *

Ryan was sitting in the lower flat finishing up some homework when he heard gunshots from upstairs. He hopped out of his chair and ran up as John came home and did the same.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" John shouted removing his fingers from his ears. Ryan came in behind him and saw Sherlock sitting in his chair, his legs extended and crossed at the ankles, holding a gun. He was in pajamas with his blue robe on.

"Bored." He said quietly not looking at them.

"What?" John asked leaning forward.

"Bored!" Sherlock said louder standing up.

"No." John said as he and Ryan quickly covering their ears as Sherlock raised the gun towards a yellow smiley face on the wall. Sherlock fired once into the wall.

"Bored." He put his arm behind his back and fired again. "Bored!" He shook out his hand and John went and took the gun away from him; unloading it. Sherlock started to walk over to the couch. "I don't know what's got into the criminal classes." John walked over to the desk and put the gun away. "Good job I'm not one of them."

"So you take it out on the wall?" John asked. Ryan walked over to the table and picked up the can of yellow spray paint.

"Oh the wall had it coming." Sherlock said flicking a piece of the wall. He whipped his robe around him and plopped onto the couch.

"What about that Russian case?" John said taking off his coat. Sherlock moved up on the couch.

"Belarus- open and shut domestic murder. Not worth my time."

"Oh shame." John said walking into the kitchen. Apparently while he was gone Sherlock had made quite a mess of his science things on the table for John stopped suddenly and raised his arms. Ryan smiled and held in a chuckle. "Anything in?" John called to him. "I'm starving." Ryan heard him open the fridge then closed it again. "Oh…" Ryan walked into the kitchen archway and saw John open the fridge again, look at the head inside then close it again. "There's a head." He whispered. "A severed head." He said louder turning towards the living room. Ryan's eyes lit up and he tried to push past John. "No no no, you don't need to see that." John said holding the door closed. Ryan pouted.

"Just tea for me, thanks." Sherlock said calmly.

"There's a head in the fridge." John said.

"Yes?" Sherlock said as if saying 'what about it?'

"A bloody head!" John said walking into the living room. He looked back and saw Ryan looking in the fridge. "Oh great."

"Where else was I supposed to put it? You don't mind, do you?" Sherlock asked.

"Well…"

"I got it from Bart's morgue." Sherlock inhaled sharply. "I'm measuring the coagulation of saliva after death." John sighed and Ryan walked in the room past him. Ryan glanced up at him before sitting down in Sherlock's chair. Sherlock glanced at him but didn't say anything about it. "I see you've written up that taxi driver case." Sherlock said to John.

"Yeah..yes." John said walking over to sit in his chair.

"_'A Study In Pink'_\- nice."

"Well, you know, pink lady, pink case, pink phone- there was a lot of pink."

"Did you like it?" John asked Sherlock, who was now looking at a book that was on the table.

"Um.." He dragged out the word. "No."

"Why not? I thought you'd be flattered."

"Flattered?" Sherlock said putting down the book. "'Sherlock sees through everything and everyone in seconds. What's incredible thought is how spectacularly ignorant he is about some things.'" Sherlock quoted.

"-Now hang on a minute, I didn't mean it like th.."

"Oh you meant spectacularly ignorant in a nice way? Look, it doesn't matter to me who's prime minister or who's sleeping with who.."

"Or that the earth goes around the sun." John said.

"Oh God, that again." Sherlock muttered. "It's not important."

"Not important?" John shifted in his chair. "It's primary school stuff. _How _could you not know that?" Sherlock rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes.

"Well, if I've ever did, I've deleted it."

"Deleted it?" Sherlock sat up and put the book he was holding on the table.

"Listen, _this_" He said point to his head "is my hard drive and it only makes sense to put thing in there that are useful, _really_ useful." He waved his hand as if dismissing an idea. "Ordinary people fill their heads with all kinds of rubbish and that makes it hard to get at the stuff that matters. Do you see?" He asked looking to John who was quiet for a moment.

"But it's the solar system!" John insisted. Sherlock groaned.

"Oh hell, what does that matter? So we go around the sun! If we went around the moon or round and round the garden like a teddy bear, it wouldn't make any difference." Ryan let out an airy laugh. "All that matters to me is the work. Without that my brain rots." He said rubbing his head with both hands. "Put that in your blog. Or better still, stop inflicting our opinions on the world." He said before turning over and curling into a 'ball' on the couch, facing the wall. John glanced at Ryan who shrugged and gave him a small smile. The sound of the front door opening indicated Mrs. Hudson was home. John suddenly got up and walked across the room. Hearing him, Sherlock turned to look at him. "Where are you going?"

"Out." He said pulling on his coat. "I need some air." He walked out. "Excuse me. Sorry." He said as he apparently bumped into Mrs. Hudson.

"I'm sorry, love." She said with a small laugh. She walked over to the open door and knocked. "hoo hoo." She looked over at Ryan and he smiled with a small wave. She smiled back before looking to Sherlock who had stretched out. "You two had a little domestic?" She asked walking into the kitchen. Sherlock got up and stepped on and over the table. Ryan frowned at him. Sherlock glanced at him before walking over to the window. Mrs. Hudson put some bags down. Ryan got up and went into the kitchen to help her put a few things away. She smiled at him. "Such a good boy." She said patting his head. "It's a bit nippy out there. He should have wrapped himself up a bit more." Sherlock pulled back the curtain and look out at John leaving.

"Look at that." Sherlock said. "Quiet, calm, peaceful." He was silent for a second. "Isn't it hateful?"

"Oh, I'm sure something will come up, Sherlock." Mrs. Hudson said. "A nice murder, that'll cheer you up." She said leaving the kitchen. Ryan followed after her stopping in the middle of the room.

"Can't come too soon." He said quietly. Just then she noticed the wall. Ryan bit his lip to hold back a smile.

"Hey, what have you done to my bloody wall? I'm putting this on your rent young man." She said before leaving the room. Sherlock looked at Ryan who was grinning. A smirk tugged at Sherlock's lips and he sighed. Suddenly and explosion made the windows blow in and sent Sherlock and Ryan flying to the floor.


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own BBC Sherlock or anything in it. I DO however own original cases, my OCs and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated. **

**Thank you everyone who's reviewed, Faved and Followed.**

* * *

Fae pushed past the police blocking her way and ran up the stairs to Sherlock's flat.

"Ryan!" She practically screamed when she saw him sitting on the couch. She rushed over and crouched in front of him before she checked him over. Sherlock sat in his chair as Mrs. Hudson swept up broken glass.

"Yes, we're fine too." Sherlock said.

"I'm happy to see you're okay as well." Fae said with a sheepish smile. "What happened?"

"An explosion." Sherlock said. Fae rolled her eyes.

"Well I know _that_." she said.

"You asked."

"I meant specifically."

"Gas leak." Sherlock said with an uninterested shrug. There was a knock on the door frame and everyone turned to see Mycroft. "You didn't lock the door behind you." Sherlock said to Fae with a frown.

"Hello to you too." Mycroft said.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Fae asked.

"Of course he didn't mention me." Mycroft said as he walked in. "Mycroft Holmes." Fae looked from Sherlock to Mycroft and back.

"You have a brother."

"Clearly." Sherlock said.

"And you're Fae Ramsey." Mycroft said. Ryan raised his eyebrows. "And your son Ryan Ramsey."

"We've never met." Fae said with a frown.

"I'm aware." Mycroft said before he walked up to Sherlock.

"Forget it." Sherlock said before Mycroft could say anything. Mycroft sighed. Fae stroked Ryan's hair briefly before she stood and helped Mrs. Hudson clean up.

"Oh, thank you." she said.

…

"Sherlock?" John called as came inside. "Sherlock?" He called again coming up the stairs and into the living room. Sherlock plucked a string on his violin.

"John." He said.

"I saw it on the telly, are you two okay?" He said looking from Sherlock to Ryan and Fae who were on the couch.

"Me? What? Oh yeah, fine, gas leak apparently." Sherlock said. John turned to Fae.

"Everyone's fine and I wasn't home." Fae said as she gave him a smile. Sherlock plucked another note and turned to Mycroft.

"I can't." he said.

"Can't?"

"The stuff I've got is just too big. I can't spare the time." Sherlock lied.

"Never mind your usual trivia." Mycroft said. John looked at them in confusion. "This is of national importance. Sherlock plucked another note before hitting the strings.

"How's the diet?"

"Fine." He replied refusing to rise to the implied insult. "Perhaps you can get through to him."

"What?" John asked looking over the window damage.

"I afraid my brother could be very intransigent." Sherlock strummed the violin.

"You're so keen, why don't you investigate it."

"No, no, no, no, I can't possibly be away from the office for any length of time, not with the Korean elections so.." He tailed off as John turned towards him in surprise and Sherlock raised his head from looking at his violin. "Well, you don't need to know about that, do you?" He smiled humorlessly in a clear message to forget what he just said." Besides a case like this requires… legwork." Sherlock picked a high note and looked up to John who was rubbing the back of his neck.

"How's Sarah John? How was the lilo?"

"Sofa, Sherlock. It was the sofa." Mycroft corrected him looking at his pocket watch.

"Oh yes, of course." Sherlock said looking back at John as if he saw what he had missed.

"How..?" John started. "Never mind." he said as he down on the couch beside Fae.

"Sherlock's business seems to be booming since you and he became… pals. What's he like to live with? Hellish, I'd imagine."

"I'm never bored." John said. Ryan chuckled and Fae looked down at him.

"Good. That's good, isn't it?" Mycroft said smiling condescendingly before standing up as Sherlock picked up his bow and whipped one end through the air in front of him. Mycroft Picked up a folder, which he had put on the table beside him, and stepped forward and to offer the folder to Sherlock. Sherlock just looked back at him stubbornly. Grimacing and poking his tongue into the corner of his mouth, Mycroft turned and offered the folder to John instead. "Andrew West, known as Westie to his friends, civil servant, found dead on the tracks of Battersea station this morning with his head smashed in."

"Jumped in front of the train?" John asked taking the folder of papers.

"Seems the logical assumption."

"But?"

"But?" Mycroft asked.

"Well, you wouldn't be here if it was an accident." Sherlock smirked while he applied rosin to his bow with a small cloth. "Huh." Sherlock said quietly.

"The M.O.D. is working on a new missile defense system." Mycroft started. "The Bruce-Partington Program. It's called. The plans for it were on a memory stick."

"That wasn't very clever." John commented, with a slight smile, looking in the folder. Sherlock smirked, even more, in agreement.

"It's not the only copy. But it is secret. And missing.."

"Top secret."

"If it was so secret you wouldn't have put it on a memory stick; Too easy to steal or lose." Mycroft ignored Fae comment.

"Very. We think West must have taken the memory stick. We can't possible risk it falling into the wrong hands. You've got to find those plans, Sherlock." He said as he turned to said detective. "Don't make me order you." Breathing in sharply through his nose, Sherlock raised his violin to his shoulder, ready to play. He looked calmly at his brother.

"I'd like to see you try."

"Think it over. Goodbye. John." John stood up and he went and shook his hand then turned to Fae and Ryan. "Ms. Ramsey." He took her hand and politely kissed it. "See you very soon." He said to them with an almost creepy smile. As Mycroft headed back towards the chair to pick up his coat, Sherlock began to repeatedly play a short irritating sequence of notes. John and the others frowned across at him but Sherlock continued to play until Mycroft had left the room and was on the stairs. Grimacing in the direction of his brother's back, Sherlock finished his playing and lowered the violin, still looking annoyed. John sat back down on the coffee table and waited until Mycroft had reached the ground floor and was out of earshot before he spoke.

"Why did you lie?" John asked. Sherlock looked over to him. "You've got nothing. Not a single case. That's why the wall took a pounding. Why did you tell your brother you were busy?"

"Why shouldn't I?" he said shrugging.

"Oh.. nice.. Sibling rivalry. Now we're getting somewhere." Sherlock turned and opened his mouth but before he could deny anything his phone started to ring. He irritably whipped his bow down again, put it on the seat, beside him and fished his phone out of his jacket pocket.

"Sherlock Holmes." he said answering it. He listened for a moment then his expression intensified. "Of course. How can I refuse?" he asked hanging up. He grabbed his coat as he put his phone away. "Lestrade, I've been summoned. Coming?"

"If you want me to." John said getting up.

"Of course." He stopped in the doorway, putting his coat over his arm, turning back to John. "I'd be lost without my blogger." He turned to Ryan, who stood next to Fae. "You coming?" Fae frowned.

"Why would I come?" she asked. Sherlock had been talking to Ryan, and momentarily forgot Fae was there. He noticed Ryan pouting. Sherlock shook his head as he shrugged.

"Thought I'd offer." He said.

"Well, no thank you." Fae said slowly. Sherlock nodded once before he and John left.

* * *

"You like the funny cases, don't you? The surprising ones." Lestrade said as he, John and Sherlock walked through the office at Scotland Yard.

"Obviously." Sherlock said.

"You'll love this. That explosion."

"Gas leak, yes?" He said walking past Sally Donovan, they exchanged glares.

"No."

"No?"

"No, made to look like one."

"What?" Sherlock stopped to look at a letter on the table.

"Hardly anything left of the place. Except strongbox. A very strong box and inside it was this." Lestrade pointed to the letter.

"You haven't opened it?"

"It's addressed to you, isn't it? We've X-rayed it. It's not booby-trapped."

"How reassuring." He said picking it up and bringing over to a lamp. Putting it in the light he started to examine it. He flipped it over and looked at the blue letters 'Sherlock Holmes' "Nice stationery. Bohemian."

"What?" Lestrade asked.

"From the Czech Republic. No fingerprints?"

"No." Lestrade said

"She used a fountain pen. A Parker Duofold – iridium nib."

"She?" John asked.

"Obviously."

"Obviously." Sherlock took a letter opener and began to open the letter. The light showing the particles from the paper. He reached inside and pulled out an iPhone with a pink case.

"That, that's the phone. The pink phone."

"What? From the study in pink?" Lestrade asked.

"Obviously, it's not the same phone. But it's supposed to look like-" Sherlock stopped, realizing what Lestrade had said and turned to face him. Sally had come into the room to put some files down on a desk near the door. "_'Study in Pink.'_ You read his blog?"

"Course I read his blog. We all do. Do you really not know that the Earth goes round the Sun?" He asked smiling. Sally sniggered loudly. Sherlock, who was taking off his gloves, glared at her as John pursed his lips in embarrassment. Sally left the room and Sherlock turned his concentration back to the phone. "It isn't the same phone. This one's brand new." He said looking at the connection sockets, none of which had any scratches around them. "Someone's gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like the same phone which means your blog," He threw an accusatory look at John, who did his best to ignore it. "Has a far wider readership." Sherlock switched the phone on and immediately got a voice alert. "You have one new message." The phone beeped four times then one last long one.

"Was that it?" Lestrade asked.

"No, that's _not_ it." Sherlock said. The phone dinged and Sherlock opened a picture of Fae and Ryan's flat, more specifically their living room. There was an unused fireplace on one wall and towards the left wall was a table and a few chairs. In the far right corner you could just see the door to her bedroom which was open.

"What in the hell are we supposed to make of that? An estate agent's photo and the bloody Greenwich pips."

"It's a warning."

"A warning?"

"Some secret societies used to send dried melon seeds orange pips, things like that- five pips. They're warning us it's going to happen again." Sherlock scanned the picture and noticed Fae's bag on the couch and Ryan's 3DS on the table. He looked towards the open bedroom door and saw the hand and partial wrist of someone on the floor. He started to leave.

"Hang on. What's going to happen again?" John asked as he followed behind him.

"Boom." Sherlock said raising his arms.

…

The three took a cab back to Baker Street and Sherlock opened the door. Sherlock walked down the hall to Fae's door. He tried to open it but it was locked.

"Mrs. Hudson!" He called. John raised an eyebrow and Lestrade just looked confused.

"Sherlock this is Fae's flat what are we doing here? I'm sure she's still in, her coat's still here." John said as he gestured to the coat rack in the hall.

"That's the problem."

…

"It's not polite to just barge in on them like this." Mrs. Hudson said as she handed Sherlock the extra key. He ignored her and opened the door. The three went down stairs shutting the door behind them. Reaching the bottom of the stairs Sherlock slowly pushed the door open and walked into Fae's flat. In the middle of her living room on a round carpet were a pair of while shoes.

"Shoes…" John said stating the obvious. "Those can't be Fae's and they're defiantly not Ryan's." He looked around before asking "Where're Fae and Ryan?" Sherlock pointed to her bedroom door. John walked around the shoes and looked into her bedroom. "Oh my god." He said as he rushed over to where Fae lay unconscious on the ground on the other side of her bed, in a towel, her hair was still damp. John kneeled by her and checked her pulse before he left out a breath of relief. Sherlock walked over to the shoes. "He's a bomber remember." John warned while he examined Fae to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Where's Ryan?" John muttered as he stood and looked around. Sherlock crouched down, then put his hands on the floor and leaned forward. Lowering his body down he moved closer to the shoes and, just as his nose was almost touching them, a phone rang. Sherlock jumped up, closed his eyes momentarily and then stood up, pulled off his glove and took the pink iPhone from his coat pocket and looked at the caller I.D.

Number blocked.

He paused for a second, and then answered the phone.

"Hello."

"Hello. Sexy." A woman said crying.

"Who's this?"

"I've sent you a little puzzle. Just to say hi."

"Who's talking? Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying. I'm typing. And this stupid bitch is reading it out."

"The curtain rises." Sherlock said.

"What?" John asked. He motioned Lestrade over to help him put Fae on the bed.

"Nothing."

"No. What did you mean?" John asked.

"I've been expecting this for some time." he responded turning his head to him only slightly.

"12 hours to solve my puzzle, Sherlock. Or, I'm going to be so naughty." The woman said before the line went dead.

"We need to bring these to the labs. I need to examine them."

"What about Fae? We can't just leave her here. And where's Ryan?" John asked. Sherlock stopped and looked around before running from the room. John hesitated to leave Fae to go after him but Lestrade motioned for him to go. Sherlock and John ran up to their flat.

"Ryan!" Sherlock called. He looked in the kitchen before checking the bathroom and even his own room.

"Ryan?" John called.

"He's not here." Sherlock said as he headed back down to Fae's flat.

"Where could he be?" John looked around frantically before following.

"We'll bring Fae with us; she'll be worried when she wakes. Ryan has to be with whoever put those shoes in the flat. You can carry her right?"

"She's not heavy but-"

"Alright then let's go."

"_Sherlock, _I can't carry her."

"Why not? You just said you she's not heavy."

"Sherlock, you can't bring her in her _towel_." Lestrade pointed out.

"Oh." Sherlock glanced at Fae on the bed. "It would take too long to wait for her to wake up." He muttered. He looked at John with a certain look in his eyes. John's eyes widened.

"N-no. _No_." John said holding up a hand.

* * *

When Fae woke up she put a hand to her head which felt heavier than normal. She opened her eyes to find she was lying down but not in her flat. She sat up and immediately looked down to see she was wearing a white t-shirt and a tanish skirt but she could tell she wasn't wearing anything underneath. She looked to the side to see her bag on a chair on top of her dark green jacket and a hair brush along with a note. She picked up her bag to see a pair of her underwear and a bra. She looked around; the door to the room she was in was closed so she quickly put them on. She saw her boots under the chair and put them on as well. She grabbed the hair brush and started to brush her hair as she read the note. It was from John and it gave directions on how to get to where he and Sherlock were. He said they would explain what was going on when she got there and that he was sorry. She frowned at the note but then figured he was sorry about having to dress her. She assumed Ryan was with them however when she found them he wasn't with them. Fae entered the room to hear John scolding Sherlock.

"_-_no, Sherlock, that wasn't kind."

"Where's Ryan?" she asked.

"Fae, are you feeling alright?" John asked as he turned his attention to her.

"I'm fine, head feels a little funny but I'm okay. Where's Ryan?"

"Someone broke into your flat, they planted these shoes there and we found you unconscious." Sherlock said.

"I also remember I wasn't dressed yet." She added and saw John's face flush. "Thank you, though I don't understand why you two had to bring me here. Also why would couldn't just wait for me to wake up." She added quietly.

"I didn't look, I swear." John said. "I put your shirt on over the towel before-"

"John, it's okay." Fae assured him. She looked at Sherlock who still hadn't looked up from the shoes. "You never answered my question."

"A letter addressed to me was in a strongbox in that explosion. Inside was the pink phone from _A Study in Pink_-" Sherlock said. Fae blinked.

"From what?"

"Finally someone who doesn't read your blog." Sherlock muttered to John.

"I haven't had the time." Fae said. "I've been meaning to." She added with a shrug.

"Don't bother. The phone had a voicemail. 5 pips. A warning another bomb would go off. The phone had a picture of your flat where we found these shoes."

"So someone broke into my flat, knocked me unconscious..._ Just_ to place shoes?" Fae asked as her face scrunched up in confusion.

"They chose your flat because you know me; also helps we live in the same building. It was important they got to me." Sherlock explained.

"Sherlock." Fae said. "Where's Ryan?" Sherlock didn't answer. "Sherlock, where is my son?"

"He wasn't in your flat." John said. "Or ours. We… we don't know where he is." Fae let out a shaky breath. "He's probably fine, he's a smart kid." Fae sat down and put a hand on her forehead.

"We'll find him." Sherlock said. Fae closed her eyes. Sherlock was silent for a moment before he turned to John and motioned to the shoes on the table. "Go on, then." Sherlock said crossing his arms. "You know what I do, off you go."

"Oh, No." John said looking at his watch before shaking his head.

"Go on."

"I'm not going to stand here so you can humiliate me while I try and disseminate-"

"An outside eye, a second opinion. It's very useful to me."

"Yeah, right."

"Really." They looked at each other for a moment.

"Fine." John said as he picked up the left shoe. He cleared his throat. Oh, they're just a pair of shoes. Trainers."

"Good."

"They're in good nick. I'd say they were pretty new except the sole has been well worn. So the owner must have had them for a while. Er, very 80s. Probably one of those retro designs." he said as he examined them.

"You're on sparking form. What else?"

"They're quite big. A man's."

"But," Sherlock said. John looked at the tongue of the left one.

"But there's traces of a name inside in felt-tip." There was a name that was rubbed out in blue pen. "Adults don't write their names inside their shoes. So these belong to a kid."

"Excellent, What else?"

"uh I dunno know. That's it." He said as he put the shoe down.

"That's it?"

"How did I do?"

"Well, John.. really well. I mean, you missed almost everything of importance, but you know." Sherlock extended his hand and John handed him the shoe with a look of annoyance. John glanced at over at Fae who hadn't said a word or opened her eyes. "The owner loved these. Scrubbed them clean. Whitened them where they got discolored. Changed the laces three, no four times." John leaned on the table. "Even so, there are traces of his flaky skin where his fingers have come into contact with them. So he suffered from eczema." He flipped the hoe over and looked at the soles and back. "The shoes are well worn, more so on the inner side which means the owner had weak arches. British made. 20 years old."

"20 years?" John asked

"They're not retro. They're original. Limited edition. Two blue stripes 1989." Sherlock said as he showed a picture on his phone.

"There's still mud on them, they look new."

"Someone's kept them that way. Quite a bit of mud caked on the soles. Analysis shows it's from Sussex with London mud overlaying it."

"How do you know?"

"Pollen." He said turning to the computer. "Clear as a map reference to me. South of the river, too. So, the kid who owned these trainers came to London from Sussex 20 years ago. And left them behind."

"So, what happened to him?"

"Something bad. He loved those shoes. Remember. He'd never leave them filthy. Wouldn't let them go unless he had to. So, a child with big feet gets- oh." Sherlock suddenly stopped as if realizing something.

"What?"

"Sherlock." I asked looking at him.

"Carl Powers." He said.

"Sorry, who?

"Carl Powers, John."

"What is it?"

"It's where I began." Sherlock said before he stood. He looked at Fae. "Stay with us until we find Ryan." Fae stood and nodded silently.

* * *

They were on their way back to Baker Street in a cab when Sherlock took out his phone. "1989, young kid, champion swimmer came up from Brighton for a school sports tournament, drowned in the pool. Tragic accident, you wouldn't remember it. Why should you?" he said as he showed them a picture.

"But you remember." John said to him.

"Yes."

"Something fishy about it?"

"Nobody thought so. Nobody except me. I was only a kid myself. I read about it in the papers."

"You started young. Didn't you?"

"The boy, Carl Powers had some kind of fit in the water but by the time they got him out, it was too late. There was something wrong. Somewhere and I couldn't get it out of my head."

"What?"

"His shoes."

"What about them?"

"They weren't there. I made a fuss. I tried to get the police interested. But nobody seemed to think it was important. He'd left all the rest of his clothes in his locker. But there was no sign of his shoes." He reached down and grabbed the bag with the shoes in them. "Until now."

…

Back at the flat Sherlock was in the kitchen looking through old newspapers about the accident. Fae was sitting on the couch looking through her phone for online articles. John slid the door to the kitchen open.

"Can I help? I want to help. There's only five hours left." His phone beeped and he pulled it out. "It's your brother. He's texting me now. How does he know my number?"

"Must be a root canal." Sherlock muttered.

"Look, he did say national importance."

"How quaint."

"What is?"

"You are. Queen and country."

"You can't just ignore it."

"I'm not ignoring it. Putting my best man onto it right now."

"Right, good." He said crossing his arms. "Who's that?"

"He means you John." Fae said. John sighed raising his arms before letting them fall. He grabbed his coat and left. Sherlock stopped and looked over at Fae.

"I will find him. He'll be okay." He said. Fae bit her lip and nodded but didn't look at him. Fae's phone beeped.

"I'm not even going to ask how your brother got my number." She muttered as she stuffed her flip phone into her pocket. "I should've gotten him a phone…"

"Whether Ryan had a phone wouldn't help."

"We couldn't track the GPS?"

"Whoever took him would've found the phone and gotten rid of it." Sherlock said. Fae sighed. "This is in no way your fault."

"I know… and it's not yours either." She looked up at him. "I don't blame you for this." Sherlock simply nodded.

* * *

**Sorry I haven't posted in a VERY long time. I'm still working on this I swear. **


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